83% of USAID programmes to be scrapped: Rubio

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the United States was cancelling 83 percent of programmes at USAID, as the Trump administration cuts spending not aligned with its “America First” agenda.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) distributes humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programmes in around 120 countries, and critics warn that slashing its work will affect millions of people.

“After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83 percent of the programmes at USAID,” Rubio said on social media platform X.“The 5,200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.”

President Donald Trump, who has called for the humanitarian agencyto be shut down, signed an executive order in January demanding a freeze on all US foreign aid to allow time to assess overseas expenses.

Rubio said the remaining 1,000 programmes would be administered by the State Department, delivering a seemingly fatal blow to USAID -- where most workers have been placed on leave or fired since January.

Rubio on Monday notably thanked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which billionaire Elon Musk is leading in a drive to cut federal spending and jobs.

Musk, whom Rubio has reportedly criticized over his aggressive belt-tightening, responded on X describing the USAID cuts as “tough, but necessary”. The State Department had announced last month its intention to cut 92 percent of USAID contracts, identifying 5,800 grants to be eliminated.

Trump and his allies have argued that foreign assistance is wasteful and does not serve US interests, but aid groups argue much of the assistance supports US interests by promoting stability and health overseas.